Parental Involvement and Academic Achievement Among Children of Immigrants

• Main Author: Jacobsen, Wade Clinton
• Format: Others
• Published: BYU ScholarsArchive 2010
• Subjects: academic achievement; parental involvement; children of immigrants; assimilation; acculturation; social and cultural reproduction; habitus; Sociology
• Online Access: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/2390; https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3389&context=etd

Using Bourdieu's model of social and cultural reproduction, I examine student achievement and parental involvement levels across seven immigrant nationalities: Cambodian, Cuban, Filipino, Laotian, Mexican, Nicaraguan, and Vietnamese. I then analyze the relationships between five parental involvement types and GPA, while controlling for student, family, and school characteristics. Finally, I test for interaction effects to examine variations across groups. Results point to parent expectations as a strong predictor of student success, especially among Cubans, Filipinos, and Vietnamese, while other dimensions of parental involvement have little or no effect. Bourdieu's model may not be adequate among immigrant parents and their children who follow a pattern of dissonant acculturation.